US President Joe Biden said Thursday that agreement on a legislative package to combat inflation and the climate crisis is “a godsend” for families as Democrats gather votes to pass it in the Senate.
This proposal would be the most important legislation in history to combat the climate crisis,” the president said, noting that the package will also reduce health care costs for millions of Americans who buy their insurance through the Health Care Act. Low Price, also known as Obamacare. .
Biden said the legislation, titled “The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,” will not raise taxes for families earning less than $400,000 a year and said that establishing a minimum tax of 15% for companies will finance expenses and even reduce the deficit.
“My request is: leave politics aside. Do it. We have to pass this,” Biden stressed.
Prior to the president’s remarks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had already asked Democratic senators for support for approve the legislative package of 739,000 million dollars (728,000 million euros), which will be voted on next week after the moderate Joe Manchin, who blocked the ambitious “Build back better” bill in 2021, gave his “green light”.
The legislation could turn out to be a landmark victory for the Democratic-controlled Congress just months before the midterm elections, which are expected to return control of the House to Republicans.
Schumer told Democratic senators that they will now have the opportunity to achieve two priorities “extremely important” part of the party.
Manchin’s change of heart surprised Washington after months of negotiations that seemed doomed to fail. Speaking to reporters via video, the West Virginia senator said the deal is a win-win.
The package raises taxes on businesses with profits greater than $1 billion and taxpayers earning more than $400,000, includes measures to combat carbon emissions and invest in “clean” energy sources, and requires negotiating drug prices to lower consumer bills, as well as expanding federal insurance subsidies of health.
To pass the legislation, all Democratic senators must vote in favor because the Democratic majority in the Senate is a single vote, that of Vice President Kamala Harris. All 50 Republican senators oppose the package.
That means Senator Krysten Sinema of Arizona, also a moderate, will have to be persuaded to vote for it. The vote will take place next week..
However, this is a far less ambitious bill than the one Biden asked Democrats to pass in 2021 and was worth $3.5 billion. The House of Representatives approved a reduced version of 2 billion, but Manchin also opposed it in the Senate.
Source: Observadora
